Sixty years after its division between India and Pakistan, Kashmir, a region prized for its resources and rugged beauty, remains embroiled in a violent tug-of-war between the two nations, while many of its own leaders continue to seek sovereignty.

When Britain divided its Indian colony into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, Kashmir, a semi-autonomous, Muslim majority region along the border, was split between the two countries, with India receiving the lion's share. Those map lines and the continued tensions between the two religious groups sowed the seeds for decades of violence and geopolitical struggle.

"The conflict over Kashmir has been the chief source of tension between the two great nations and has resulted in tremendous costs for the region -- mounting death toll, impact on economic growth, military buildup, rise in extremism and psychological stress, especially in the Kashmir region itself," the Kashmir Study Group, associated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., reported in July 2003.

The region is home to a strong economy, centered on high-valued agriculture products, such as saffron and almonds, and known for its handicrafts, including jewelry and scarves. It also has the potential to be a major tourist destination.

"Potentially, the tourist industry could support the economy to the extent of, say, Switzerland's," said author and professor Philip Oldenburg of Columbia University's Department of South Asian Studies.

The region's economic potential may explain why its neighbors covet it and inhabitants fiercely defend it.

But journalist Yoginder Sikand, author of "Peace, Religion and Dialogue in Kashmir," said it's not economics, politics or even religion at the root of the tensions and prejudices held in the region, but nationalism.

"Politicians do routinely invoke religion," he said. "I don't think the Kashmiri issue is a religious issue. It's a Kashmiri nationalist issue. It's not because the Kashmiris are Muslims, it's because they think of themselves a separate nationality."

Before India and Pakistan gained independence in 1947, the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir was led by Sikh ruler Hari Singh, who took power in 1925. Because the state was almost entirely Muslim, it was assumed the region would become part of the newly formed Pakistan. Singh, however, felt his state deserved to be independent.

Pakistan then launched guerilla attacks on the state in order to pressure Singh into joining Pakistan. British Viceroy to India Louis Mountbatten offered to protect Kashmir if the region joined India. Singh's decision to side with India lead to the first Pakistani-Indian war over the region. When the division was finally settled upon, India maintained control over two-thirds of Kashmir with Pakistan controlling one-third.

"The people were not asked what they wanted," said Sikand. "[Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal] Nehru promised that they would gain independence when peace was restored, and I think at that time he should have kept his promise."

Denied independence, the state became the rallying cry for both Indian and Pakistani leaders. Two more wars over the region occured in 1965, when Pakistan attempted to seize the rest of Kashmir, and in 1999.

"It seems India and Pakistan can't stop fighting over it," said Oldenburg. "People worry that the conflict could escalate into full-scale war between them."

Currently, India rules about one-half of the region, entitled Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan controls about one-third, the Northern areas and Azad Kashmir, and the remaining eastern region is controlled by China.

Although there hasn't been a full-fledged war since 1999, tensions continue to run high among Pakistan, India and the rulers of Kashmir, and the quest for nuclear superiority has not helped matters.

"Nuclear weapons make a military solution rationally insane, but someone might try it anyway," said Stephen Philip Cohen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and a specialist on South Asian studies.

Oldenburg said he believes the best solution for the Kashmiri people would be to gain independence.

"I think 'the Kashmiri people' should decide, and outsiders -- particularly those in Delhi and Islamabad -- should try and work out ways of giving them a chance to do so, without artificial choices being forced on them," he said.

The Kashmir Study Group has proposed "a significant degree of autonomy, bordering on independence, for the Kashmiri-speaking areas, to which non-Kashmiri areas would be welcome to join," Oldenburg added.

Sikand said although "the average Kashmiri would like to be independent," some religious minorities, including Buddhists and followers of Shia Islam, within Kashmir would prefer the region join India.

"The argument is that India will accept all religions. Being part of India actually promotes the secular myth," he said.

And so the struggle continues, but as the Kashmir Study Group points out: "It is important to end civil strife and the tragic destruction of life and property in Kashmir. Resolving the principal issue that could lead to further armed -- and potentially nuclear -- conflict between India and Pakistan, would go far toward diminishing dangerous political tensions in South Asia."

In addition to the clear-cut wars that have been fought over the territory, Islamic extremist groups have taken up the cause of a Muslim Kashmir, for decades using Pakistan as a base for attacks in the India-controlled parts of Jammu Kashmir. These bloody insurgent attacks have repeatedly sparked violent crackdowns by Indian forces in the region and have further complicated the political reality of the region.

As Pakistan and India work to build more dialogue between their two governments, the issue of Kashmir and the efforts by some to gain the independence first sought 60 years ago remains the most significant and problematic issue with prospects for a final political solution far from certain.

-- By Alexis Matsui, Online NewsHour